Five-star recruits E.J. Montgomery and Jahvon Quinerly more cautious and focused in second recruitment process

February 14, 2018

Hudson Catholic (Jersey City, N.J.) point guard Jahvon Quinerly would’ve never guessed that he’d be in his senior year smack-dab in the middle of pursuing a state title swan song with the unbearable stress of picking a college hovering over him.

Wheeler’s E.J. Montgomery (Photo: adidas)

Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) forward E.J. Montgomery can certainly relate.

He’d been committed to Auburn for more than two years before opening up his recruitment last September.

“It’s hard to be in this position,” Quinerly said. “I was done, but now I’m back in this position. I’ve watched two of my teammates commit… It’s just tough.”

The good news for Quinerly is that it’s almost over. He plans to announce his decision on Wednesday, again.

Hudson Catholic’s Jahvon Quinerly (Photo: Gregory Payan, AP)

Quinerly decommitted from Arizona in October after Wildcats assistant Emmanuel “Book” Richardson was arrested in the FBI probe that rocked college basketball in September. Quinerly was not named in the FBI documents, but his family hired a lawyer as a result of the investigation, according to ESPN.

“I can’t really talk about any of that,” said Quinerly, who is ranked No. 26 overall in the ESPN 100. “Right now I’m focused on winning another state title and then winning TOC here in New Jersey.”

Before that he’ll upgrade arguably the most important position on the floor at Seton Hall, Georgetown, Oklahoma, Memphis, Villanova or Maryland.

Montgomery isn’t as far along in his recruitment process.

He decommitted from the Tigers one day after Auburn assistant Chuck Person was arrested as part of the same FBI probe.

“I just didn’t want to be a part of that,” Montgomery said. “I’m just moving forward with the schools that are recruiting me now.”

As it stands, Montgomery is down to 11 schools: Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, USC, Clemson, Georgia and UCLA.

He’s visiting North Carolina today and Duke on Wednesday.

“Right now I’m just doing all of my research,” Montgomery said. “Then we’ll make the hard decision when the time comes. This process is never easy; probably even harder after this whole situation.”

The positive that came from their unique experience is that both players learned valuable lessons.

Chief among those, according to Quinerly, is to remain guarded “with the media.”

“Media people aren’t my friends,” Quinerly said. “I only mess with a few of them like the ones that don’t throw out allegations just for views. I’ve been silent, but I see everything. I take mental note.”

Montgomery said he exercises more caution with people period, but said he’s determined to keep his focus on his looming decision.

“It definitely makes you think a lot more about everything and everybody,” Montgomery said. “My parents were always really involved and even more now so I’m lucky to have that. I’m just focused on this decision now. I’ve got a lot of good options so I have to find what’s right for me.”